Sri Lanka to Welcome 35 Countries with Visa-Free Entry from October 2024
The government of Sri Lanka announced that from 1st October 2024, entry without a visa into this island nation would be permitted to citizens of 35 countries for up to 30 days.
Under this six-month scheme, it includes countries like India, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, and several others across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
While there was a pilot programme offering visa-free travel to visitors from India, China, Russia, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand since October 2019, this expired in March 2024. It is not so long ago that the e-visa services operated by IVS-GBS and VFS Global were suspended following legal issues. Indian nationals could still get a visa on arrival up until the new programme begins.
According to tourism data from the Sri Lanka Development Authority, India remains the largest source market with more than 246,000 arrivals, followed by the United Kingdom with nearly 124,000 visitors. Tourism has played a gigantic role in the economy of the country and generated USD 1.5 billion during the first half of 2024, up from USD 875 million in the same period the previous year.
